In certain surgical procedures chip-sized bone is used as filler adjacent intact bone. For example, in a spinal fusion procedure, it is known to place a compound formed out of milled bone chips around implanted rods. The rods hold adjacent vertebrae in alignment. This compound serves as a lattice upon which tissues forming the vertebrae grow so as to form a foundation of bone around the rods. This foundation distributes the load imposed on the rods. Bone chips can also be placed in the intervertebral disc space or into a cage positioned in the intervertebral disc space.
Bone chips are also used as filler and/or growth formation lattice in orthopedic surgical procedures and maxillofacial procedures. Bone chips are used as a filler and/or growth formation lattice in these procedures because the proteins from which the bone is formed serve as make-up material from which the blast cells of the adjacent living bone cells form new bone.
The ideal source of bone stock for bone chips is the patient into whom the bone chips are to be packed. This is because the patient's own bone is less likely than donor bone to be rejected by the patient's immune system. Accordingly, in a procedure in which bone chips are required, bone stock is often harvested from one of the patient's bones that can afford to lose a small section of bone, typically between 0.25 and 3 cubic centimeters. Bone that is removed from the patient for transplant into another part of the patient is referred to as autograft bone.
Converting autograft bone stock into bone chips can generally be considered a two part process. In the first part of the process, the harvested bone is cleaned to remove the ligaments and other soft tissue that is not suitable for forming bone chips. The cleaned bone is then milled into bone chips. The Applicant's Assignee's U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US 2009/0118735 A1 and PCT Pub. No. WO 2009/061728 A1, BONE MILL INCLUDING A BASE AND A MILL HEAD SEPARATE FROM THE BASE, THE MILL HEAD INCLUDING A REMOVABLE CATCH TRAY, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an electrically operated bone mill capable of converting bone stock into bone chips.
In a typical bone cleaning process, prior to milling the bone, surgical personnel manually clean the bone. Presently, surgical personnel perform this manual process using curettes and/or rongeurs. It may take 15 minutes or more for surgical personnel to perform this task.
Moreover, to perform the cleaning process, the surgical personnel may need to firmly grasp the bone. Exerting such force on the bone may cause tearing of the gloves worn by the surgical personnel. Furthermore, the sharp cutting tools being used by the surgical personnel could cut or tear through the gloves. Such cutting or tearing through the gloves could result in the possibility that skin of the surgical personnel may come into direct contact with the bone. This contact can result in contamination of the bone.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for assemblies that remove soft tissue from bone while reducing the need for manual grasping and cleaning of the bone.